Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Mouse and the Lion

Leonard Weisgard is one of those illustrators we tend to take for granted at our house. Maybe it's the fact that so many of his books are two-tone. Maybe it's that there's just just so many of them. But every once in a while, one of his books floats to the top of the heap and I'm once again reminded how awesome he is. Here, teamed up with the fabulous Titus... his stencils and chalk and muted colors fit nicely in a world where big is small and small is big.

When two creatures (lion and mouse respectively) decide they'd love to visit the land of people, a meddling fairy decides that the mouse would be too afraid of towering people and that people would run screaming from a ferocious lion.

Tears rushed to her eyes at the terrible thought. "How can I help these helpless people?" she asked herself, and the answer game at once. Waving her wand in the air, she whispered, "In the eyes of all people who look upon him, this lion will appear smaller than the smallest mouse!" Then her eyes twinkled. "There'll be a mixup today!" And away the fairy flew--right out of this book!

Yeah. Right out of this book and a world of trouble. This storybook switcheroo has everyone confused. The lion is totally misunderstood...

"Girls!, girls! Look at the teeny weeny lion!" "Isn't he precious!" said another. "The little doll! I'd like to do his hair up in curlers, and dress him in pink pajamas and pink hairbows, and wheel him around in my best doll carriage.

4 comments:

Holy cats, the plot alone is fantastic, but then have Weisgard's illustrations on top - GENIUS! I'm constantly surprised by the variety and quality of Weisgard's picture book illustrations, the man had some real - and really under-appreciated - talent.